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Is there an argument for Babbo being more important than Lupa? Yes. I would say that Babbo started the movement in this country of Italian restaurants in America (as opposed to Italian-American restaurants) that create and serve dishes frmo an Italian aesthetic but don't attempt to imitate actual Italian dishes from Italy. I heard Batali once say that, in constructing the menu for Babbo, he decided to think of New York as though it were another region of Italy and to proceed from that viewpoint. This means incorporating local ingredients and taking account of the preferences and practices of the local populance and making a "NYC Italian cuisine" much in the same way that Bolognese cuisine is different from Milanese cuisine. This resulted in dishes such as his "fennel dusted sweetbreads with sweet and sour onions, duck bacon and membrillo vinegar" which is a dish that does not exist in Italy, but is reflective of a certain NYC-informed Italian aesthetic to the extent that most any Italian would recognize it as congruent with their culinary tradition in a way that an Italian-American dish such as "veal parmesan with spaghetti and red sauce" is not. ← Well said Sam! I agree.,

I just realized that Blue Hill at Stone Barns is not on the list. That should be there. It raised Farm to Table dining to a new level on the East Coast.

All excellent restaurants, but I don't see how they qualify for this list over other restaurants. McCrady's may be the most intriguing candidate, but it hasn't been around long enough yet or been influential enough yet to qualify

The references to the Spaniards speak of envy. The vanguardist Spanish chefs are very well versed in their traditions and tend to incorporate them in their cooking. The only discord between traditionalists and vanguardists in Spain is from Santi Santamaria. Most of the other traditionalists realize that their own cooking and world esteem has risen because of the vanguardists and not despite them. There is no doubting the contribution and status of French cooking, but they are by no means alone, except in their own minds. It would have been nice to have had a little balance on that panel to defend those cooking from other traditions. It's funny. They speak of challenge, competition and etc., but would they, any of them, be there without financial opportunity. There is nothing wrong with that, but call a spade a spade.

My understanding is that they are very much planning on staying in business, but that this was a necessary step. I certainly hope that they do and the fresh start does them good.

Beautiful, David! Well done!

David, even if it was a different species, the fact that he would call it Chilean Sea Bass is almost as bad and in some ways worse than if it actually was. It would be worse because it would have been deceit. It is at least debatable to serve CSB from sustainable sources, but that should at least be explained, if for no other reason than pr, unless they are deliberately flaunting it. I would be curious and happy to learn of a reasonable justification.

While I'm pretty sure that a restaurant like Lupa was hard to find before it opened, the Babbo type experience was surely around...in places like Felidia (which maybe should be included), San Domenico and others. But their respective service models, menus and price levels are so different that I felt the inclusion of both necessary. If I was to leave one of the two off, it would probably be Babbo, because I think Lupa is more ground breaking. ← If any of Batali's restaurants was groundbreaking, it was probably the largely forgotten Po. Maybe because I grew up in that tradition in Brooklyn, I don't see any of them to be truly novel, however. What Batali did do was bring offal to people who previously never would have approached it.

David, thank you again for your excellent reporting and support of a dining scene that I have generally come around to appreciate. There is one thing, however, from this dinner that really troubles me and focuses on what I find uncomfortable about Las Vegas. Did they really serve Chilean sea bass? Was there any mention of how they sourced it? While there area few sources that fish it in a responsible manner, they are few and a small portion of what is left of that fishery. The chefs that I know that care about seafood sustainability do not serve it, because it is difficult to distinguish the sources and by serving it, it gives tacit approval to all Chilean sea bass. The deeper issue that makes me uncomfortable is a sense that it is ok to serve anything in Las Vegas if it can be sourced. I do not mean to cast that net over all the chefs and restaurants of Las Vegas as I personally know that it doesn't apply to all. Perhaps this sense is an offshoot of the city's reputation as one of excess. Having Chilean sea bass on the menu for an event like this does nothing in my mind to allay that sense. It does reinforce it, however. That being said, I don't mind the personal excess so often on display there. Flaunting very limited resources in such a high profile situation does bother me though. I am looking forward to your Robuchon experience.

In my opinion, Lupa defined the Italian trattoria/osteria eating experience in the United States. It took the Italian aesthetic of using excellent ingredients and preparing them simply and then serving them without any fancy tricks, and brought it here. Platters of house cured salumi (or, Dad cured salumi), perfectly cooked al dente pasta (like they really cook it in Rome, for example), the occasional offal, secondi served without any accompaniments and a deep, outstanding, affordable all-Italian wine list were all really new experiences to diners - and once Mario hit it big, everyone just had to dine there...and they still do. Without Lupa, I doubt we'd have restaurants like A16 or Incanto in San Francisco, Osteria in Philadelphia, or countless other riffs on the Lupa experience here in New York. While the brilliance of Esca is undeniable, it is a much less copied restaurant, and appeals to a much more narrow constituency. ← I think that you already have that on your list with Babbo. Having both is redundant much like TFL & Per Se. I realize that Babbo and Lupa are not exactly clones, but they are still too similar to have both IMO. I'm glad that you didn't include Del Posto!

One restaurant on your list, Mitch that I don't agree belongs there is Lupa. Good, yes. Important, not really, at least not in this context. I think more of an argument could be made for Esca, though I wouldn't recommend that either.

Opened 1979. Just makes the cut! And definitely belongs on there. Is there any other restaurant that did more to bring Cajun cooking into the American consciousness? ← Agreed.

Or Montrachet?

What about the original Bouley or Chanterelle?

Blackberry Farm?

If one accepts the argument that Per Se should be on there because its a 4 star, then Daniel belongs there as well. As great as Daniel is, I'm not sure it otherwise meets the criteria here. It has always been excellent, but has it ever really been ground-breaking? What about The Quilted Giraffe? The River Cafe?

I wouldn't argue.

Here's another that I think absolutely belongs: Union Pacific. IMO this was the best and most exciting restaurant in NYC and perhaps the country in its time. Rocco Dispirito pushed the envelope as well as it has ever been pushed. A meal there still ranks as one of my all-time favorites.

Sorry, Mitch, I missed Norman's on your list. While Rodriguez may not have endured at any one restaurant, he created a good niche cuisine. Douglas may not be big nationally, but he has been instrumental in creating a major regional cuisine, I think more than any other single individual in the Pacific Northwest. Here's another thought: Balthazar - granted they haven't done anything truly new, but they reawakened the bistro experience in the US.

From my blogpost

I think it is, Sam. The style of cooking is one that we tend to take for granted today, but Trotter was at the forefront of popularizing it. Without Trotter, I'm not sure that we would have Alinea - at least in Chicago. That city had always been known as a meat & potatoes town. Before Trotter, the only fine dining restaurants were classic French. Trotter opened the door for so many excellent restaurants and set the tone for Chicago to become arguably the most important dining city in the country right now.

Charlie Trotter's may not have been the first fine dining restaurant in Chicago, but it certainly is the one that put the city on the culinary map.

I would agree with Varmint's inclusion of Crook's Corner. Though I am not personally familiar with the restaurant, it has been a breeding ground for all sorts of top notch chefs who have gone on to wonderful food elsewhere. There is no question that Charlie Trotter needs to be on the list, even if it is no longer as relevant as it once was. I agree with Sam re: Per Se. great restaurant, but essentially a re-do of TFL in different digs. Since TFL came first, that gets the nod, IMO. As for WD-50, I think it belongs there. While I happen to love it, the fact that it is as controversial as it is, puts it there. Love it or hate, most people seriously interested in food in this country at least know of it. What about Patria or Asia de Cuba? Douglass Rodriguez put Nuevo Latino on the map. How about Blue Ginger? Clio, another great incubator? How about Norman Van Aken as a chef? Tom Douglas in Seattle? Yasuda? New Orleans certainly deserves more than just Emeril. How about Susan Spicer at Bayona?

As usual, Philadining, after seeing your photos, I don't want to even point out my own. Beautiful! The dinner was absolutely wonderful. I had great company on Friday night as I'm sure you did on Saturday, but I'm sorry we were at different nights. For anyone who might be interested, my descriptions and photos are on my blog. Mexigaf, I agree about the steelhead roe & watercress ice cream dish, but my favorite was the skirt steak.

You mean the chef who wrote a book on cooking sous vide, that modern, scientifically based cooking technique?